Keystoker Too Cold

My husband and I are at our wits end with our Keystoker Koker stove with thermostat. We've had it for 5 years. Seems like whatever we do, we can't keep the house warm enough when the temperature drops below 20 degrees. We had it installed in the basement of our old 1860's farmhouse, field stone foundation. the house is well insulated, though the basement is not. It was hooked into our oil duct work, and connected to a thermostat. We've modified the duct work several times. Just last year we had another company come and spent $1800 on new duct work, as we had removed the old oil furnace. It seemed to help initially, then over the last few weeks, it has been getting harder to keep the heat up. Sunday the blower motor went, and we replaced it ourselves.

Can't get the coal to feed fast enough, and the hand screw is turned all the way up, clockwise, as far as it will go. The pusher plate is moving, but not fast enough. The coal is simmering now, and I suspect it will either go out, or just idle. The draft is set at .02. With the coldest days forecast this coming Friday, I am dreading what it will be like in here--really hating this stove. Hasn't been above 62-64 degrees in here in over a week, with at least 4 supplemental heaters running non-stop.

My husband cleans the stove every season. But even though we have the directions to the stove, they don't tell you the areas to clean, or how to do it. We are burning bags of Franklin Anthracite rice coal, which seems to be really good. (We've had past years with lousy quality coal. Last year, it was frequently only 58 degrees in the house, and we had bad coal, and wrong size from a bulk delivery).

I think the grates may be clogged or something. What do you think? And how do we clean back under the grates, especially under the hopper? The ashes are too far back from the edge of the grate, and the flame isn't more than 2 inches wide, not high enough. If we manually pull the coal forward over the blower holes, it fires right up, nice and hot, but doesn't seem to want to feed much, and won't maintain flame. My husband thinks the coal is too thick on the grate...Just check it now and it was almost out!

Hi Julie - When cleaning the stove, you brush all of the flyash off the interior surfaces, and then vacuum everything out...inside of the stove, base, flue pipe, etc.

The stoker needs to have the air holes cleaned out at least once per season, many people use a small drill bit. You should be able to remove the combustion blower and vacuum out any fines that have accumulated under the grates. Empty out the hopper and make sure the pusher block isn't getting bound up with fines or corrosion.

Also, if you are burning wet coal that can cause a handful of issues. Inconsistent feeding, fines stuck together, etc. The coal needs to be dry or slightly damp for the stoker to work properly.

Little fire=Little heat
When cleaning any stove...it's the places you don't or can't see that need cleaned the most.
Have hubby open and clean entire stove pipe from stove to chimney...flyash can severely restrict size inside.

You want/need full capacity of heat like when it was new.

Julie,

What town do you live in?

Please post pictures of your stove, ductwork and tell us more about the size of the house.

A Koker is a very powerful stove, it could heat most houses even if the windows were open.

Also, very important to clean coal fines and dust accumulations that collect under grate. If not done annually will effect perfomance very badly.
As was mentioned, do that and open all the little air holes.
Try to do all this w/o removing the grate...or you will need new gasket seal to reassemble.
Some how see if can vacuum from big air hole after the combustion fan is removed.

McGiever wrote:Also, very important to clean coal fines and dust accumulations that collect under grate. If not done annually will effect perfomance very badly.
As was mentioned, do that and open all the little air holes.
Try to do all this w/o removing the grate...or you will need new gasket seal to reassemble.
Some how see if can vacuum from big air hole after the combustion fan is removed.

McGiever has it!

First empty the hopper of all coal and make sure that you don't have any oversize pieces or coal bridging going on. This is important for the next step.

Second pull all ashes and coal off the grate so you can get at the holes in the grate. Turn the unit on and feel the air coming through the grate. Using a drill bit or an ice pick ( works great if you can find one) poke it in the holes to clear out any accumulations. This is a PIA job but absolutely necessary. After your done turn it on again and feel the increase in air flow.

Third remove the blower fan that sends the air up through the grate. Usually held in place by either two small bolts or a locking screw. Likely you will find a LOT of ash and coal fines. Vacuum it out and if you use your wife's best vacuum cleaner be ready to do a dismantle and cleanup on it. It's not nasty just she might not like it.

Fourth ensure that your refill the hopper only 1/4 way with dry coal. IMPORTANT....This is in case something isn't right and you have to clean it out again. Easier to remove one bucket of coal vrs an entire hopper. You should have a good lite off and burn from side to side.

Fifth adjust feed and air flow.

Sixth enjoy the heat.

Rev. Larry

I forgot to tell you. Fill in your location. There might be a forum member close by that can stop in and give you a hand.

Yeah we do that kinda thing on this board. We help each other out. Nothing more frustrating than putting a ton of money out to save a ton of money and something isn't working right. Most service folks haven't got a clue with coal stoves and boilers. Hence the helpful folks on this forum.

Rev. Larry

You say you pull the coal over the grate by hand, and the fire picks up. So, I don't think the holes in the grates are the problem. However, you should clean out the holes as part of your yearly maintenance. I would say you have a feed problem. As others say, empty the hopper, and check for blockage. Try using "Buckwheat" size coal. I've gotten many little sticks in my coal this year. As I fill my hopper, I watch for them, as one could plug the bottom of my hopper opening. Here's something everyone should keep in mind; At the factory, the stoker is assembled, and furnace cement is applied. After installing the stoker assembly, the hopper is installed (at destination). The bottom of the hopper can only be opened up so far, as furnace cement on the stoker dictates the size of the hopper opening. The factory wasn't bashful when applying the furnace cement to my stoker assembly. I recently (Late fall) pulled my stoker, and went all through it, furnace cement, and all. Because of not using excessive amounts of furnace cement, I was able to open the bottom of my hopper up quite a bit further. This gives better flow from the hopper, and less chance of a stick blocking the opening.

Rob--so if I empty the hopper out, how do I know if the pusher is blocked? Not sure of the mechanics of the design/layout of the stove since hopper attaches to rear of stove, and pusher bar is mounted underneath the hopper. I would assume they meet or join together somewhere near the back of the grates inside the stove... Do I stick a wire hanger or something in the base of the hopper or a shop vac hose? Do I try this from the interior of the stove?

I have a koker 160 & if the hopper is empty I can look down in & see the silver metal looking bar slowly moving back & forth if it's calling for heat. You may have fines built up behind the pusher bar but it should at least make a noise if restricted.

"What town do you live in?

Please post pictures of your stove, ductwork and tell us more about the size of the house."

Vestal, NY, see link for images of stove and duct work, house is 2700 sq.feet

http://imgur.com/a/pkt8P

Biggest problem right now seems to be "Not feeding coal fast enough"

I viewed your pics, but am not able to understand what is supposed to happen w/ a Koker feed mechanism. Somebody Help! Does it go CW or CCW???

In the third picture that small motor in front of & a little above the combustion air blower is the one that moves the pusher bar on demand. It's extremely dirty & most if not all of the small plastic fins are broken off of the bottom, I believe that helps cool that motor but all that ash should have been removed, it looks like way more than a partial season since being clean I can't remember even having to clean mine perhaps many a quick vacuum. I would try giving that a good cleaning & see if it even turns (power off naturally).
That small rectangular box with expanded metal that is sitting on top of your furnace is supposed to go over that small motor to help protect it.

Seems like the thickness of the coal bed is not all too deep and the strap where the coal is feeding looks skewed a bit. May be the camera angle.

samhill wrote:In the third picture that small motor in front of & a little above the combustion air blower is the one that moves the pusher bar on demand. It's extremely dirty & most if not all of the small plastic fins are broken off of the bottom, I believe that helps cool that motor but all that ash should have been removed, it looks like way more than a partial season since being clean I can't remember even having to clean mine perhaps many a quick vacuum. I would try giving that a good cleaning & see if it even turns (power off naturally).
That small rectangular box with expanded metal that is sitting on top of your furnace is supposed to go over that small motor to help protect it.

I think it got so dirty from all the oil we tried to use over the last few days. The dust is sticking to it. And every time we open the stove and manually rake the coal forward, dust goes everywhere...We replaced the blower motor Sunday, and my husband did vacuum out the blower hole. My son and I just now removed the coal from the hopper and were able to view the pusher bar. We removed at least 3 chunks of cement that came loose and were probably above the bar/gasket there, and may have been slowing the feed rate. We put a very small amount of coal back into the hopper, but I still don't think it's feeding fast enough. The pusher bar moves only about 1/2 inch, and is not moving at regular intervals.